Hollande pledges to intervene when redundancies loom
French presidential front-runner Francois Hollande has promised to intervene with companies to avoid mass redundancies and said he will rein in the financial world if he wins.
Conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy is fighting to stay in power but polls suggest that he will lose a May 6 election runoff to the Socialist Mr Hollande, who has railed against Mr Sarkozy’s budget cuts and promised new government spending.
Mr Hollande pressed his agenda again, playing to public fears about jobs and anger at bankers and ratings agencies who are widely blamed in France for the financial crisis and worsening the country’s economic prospects.
French media have reported that Mr Sarkozy’s advisers are pressing company executives to avoid announcing big layoffs during the presidential campaign, and predict a wave of job losses after the election.
Responding to these fears, Mr Hollande said that “before any irreparable decisions are made, I should intervene.”
He said he would try to avoid a parade of redundancy announcements and that company executives would have “responsibilities to take.”
He did not elaborate on how he would avoid job losses or name any particular companies.
Polls show that jobs are the leading concern of French voters. Both candidates have made pledges during the campaign to save jobs at a ferry operator on the Channel and a steel plant in northern France.
In Hollande’s final campaign brochure he vowed to resist “the power of money” if elected and says his priorities would include “bringing finance to heel.”
Some economists say the only way for France to calm jittery investors is to reduce its debts and boost growth prospects by changing laws to make it easier to hire and fire workers and open and close companies.
Mr Sarkozy’s finance minister shot back at Mr Hollande’s spending plans, warning that countries across Europe have to do more to cut costs.
Renewed market turmoil this week shows “the crisis never really left,” Francois Baroin said.
“All countries are in debt. All countries must reduce their deficits. All countries have to make efforts, including France.”
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